HP Deskjet 842c User Manual

User’s Guide

Navigating the User’s Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Setting Up Your Printer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Connecting your printer with a parallel printer cable. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Setting up your printer with a USB Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

More information about your printer software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Printing Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

How to choose paper. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Finding the HP print settings box. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

How to print on standard paper sizes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32

How to print on different paper sizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

How to print on both sides of the paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

How to create a mirror image of your document. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

About color. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38

About pictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Beyond the Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Printing Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Printing Banners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43

Printing Photographs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Printing Labels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Printing Envelopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47

Printing Transparencies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Printing Iron-On Transfers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Getting Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

HP Customer Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52

Appendices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

The HP DeskJet Toolbox. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58

Print cartridges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Maintaining your printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67

Increasing printer performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Minimum printing margins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Supplies and accessories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Ordering Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Language Codes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Environmental Attributes of the DeskJet Printer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74

Navigating the User’s Guide

Use the navigation controls at the bottom of each page to move through the guide:

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Setting Up Your Printer

Your HP DeskJet printer is designed for connection to your computer using either of the following cables:

Parallel printer cable

computer is running either Windows 3.1x, 95, 98, or NT 4.0. See “Connecting your printer with a parallel printer cable” on page 3 for instructions.

Universal Serial Bus (USB) cable

supported if you are running Windows 98 on your computer. See “Setting up your printer with a USB Cable” on page 14 for instructions.

The printer cable is not supplied with the printer.

purchase the printer cable separately. See page 70 for ordering information.

– You can use this method when your

– This method is only

You must

Connecting your printer with a parallel printer cable

Note: If you are using a USB cable for communications

between your printer and your computer, see page 14.

Step 1: Unpack your printer

Remove the packing material and the packing tape from the

outside of the printer.

Open the top cover. Remove both pieces of plastic packing material from the inside of the printer.

Close the top cover.

Step 2: Connect parallel cable

You’ll need to buy a printer cable that supports bi-directional communication (IEEE 1284-compliant), such as HP part number C2950A.

Make sure both the printer and the computer are turned off.

Lift the cable access door on the back of the printer.

Plug the end of the cable that does not have screws attached into the printer. Snap both clips into the notches.

Cable access door

Plug the other end into the computer, and tighten the screws.

Step 3: Plug in the power

Leave the computer and the printer turned off.

Lift the cable access door on the back of the printer.

Plug the power adapter cord firmly into the connector on the back of the printer.

Plug the appropriate end of the power cord into the power adapter.

Plug the other end of the power cord into an electrical outlet.

Note:Always use the Power button on the front of the

printer to turn the printer on and off. Using a power strip, surge protector or a wall outlet switch to turn the printer on and off may cause premature failure.

Step 4: Insert print cartridges

Press the Power button to turn on the printer.

Carefully remove the protective vinyl tape from the tri-color and black print cartridges.

The Power light comes on and the Print Cartridge light blinks.

Open the top cover. The cartridge cradle moves to the center of the printer.

Remove the print cartridges from their individual packages.

Note:Be sure not to touch the ink nozzles or the copper

electrical contacts. Also, do NOT remove the copper strip; these are electrical contacts required for proper operation of the print cartridges.

Black Print Cartridge

Vinyl Tape

Ink Nozzles Ink Nozzles

For each print cartridge, lift the cradle latch inside the printer. With the copper electrical contacts toward the rear of the printer and the print cartridge held vertically, push the print cartridge firmly down into the appropriate cradle.

Tri-color Print Cartridge

Insert the black print cartridge in the right cradle, and insert the tri-color print cartridge in the left cradle. You must insert both print cartridges for the printer to operate.

Close the latch. You will hear a click and feel resistance when the latch is

pushed down.

Note:If the Print Cartridge light continues to blink or

if the cradle doesn’t move to the right side of the printer, take out both cartridges and reinsert them.

When a print cartridge starts to run out of ink, replace it. If you do not have a replacement, leave the empty print cartridge in the cradle of the printer. The printer will not print with only one print cartridge installed.

We recommend you keep spare print cartridges on hand. When buying print cartridges, check the part numbers referenced below carefully to make sure you are buying the right print cartridges for your printer. These print cartridges have been specifically designed to work with your printer to produce results that are always clear, always sharp.

840C, 842C, and 843C require:

HP No. [15] (equivalent to C6615 Series)

Black Tri-Color HP No. [17] (equivalent to C6625 Series)

Close the top cover. The Print Cartridge light continues to blink for awhile

and then goes off. (You’ll hear the cartridge cradle return to its home position on the right side of the printer.)

Step 5: Load paper in your printer

Pull out the IN tray and slide the paper-width and paper-

length adjusters out as far as possible to make room for the paper.

Flip up the OUT tray for a better view of the IN tray.

OUT Tray

IN Tray

Paper-length adjuster

Paper-width adjuster

Remove a stack of paper from its packaging. (Make sure all the paper in the stack is the same size and type.) Tap the stack on a flat surface to even it up.

Load the paper into the IN tray,

printable side down

. The IN

tray holds up to 10 mm or 3/8 inch at a time.

Push the paper toward the back of the paper tray until it stops.

Slide both paper adjusters to fit snugly against the paper’s edges. Make sure the paper lies flat in the tray and that the paper fits under the tab of the paper-length adjuster.

Slide the IN tray all the way back in. Flip the OUT tray back down if it’s up.

Step 6: Install the printer software

Before you can use your new HP DeskJet printer, you must install the printer software on the computer from which you will print. Your printer software is located on the CD included with your printer.

From time to time, Hewlett-Packard provides updated printer software. Go to “Printer Software” on page 54 for information on obtaining updated printer software.

Before You Begin

Make sure the computer is fully set up and operational.

Make sure that the printer is properly set up and ready to print using the instructions provided earlier.

Make sure that the printer is connected to the computer with a parallel printer cable and that no peripheral devices (such as scanners, backup units, and switch boxes) are installed between the printer and the computer.

Make sure both the printer and the computer are turned on.

Close any software programs that are open and running on the computer, except the HP DeskJet installer, Windows Explorer, or Program Manager. See page 26 for instructions on how to close software programs.

Follow the installation instructions for your computer’s operating system.

Installing the printer software from the CD

Note:If the New Hardware Found box appears during the

installation procedure, click the “X” in the upper-right corner of the box, or click Cancel.

Insert the HP printer software CD into your CD-ROM drive.

For

Windows 95, 98

, and

NT 4.0

, do the following:

a. From the taskbar, select b. Type the identifier of your computer’s CD-ROM drive,

then type c. Click OK. For

Windows 3.1x, do the following:

a. In the Program Manger, select b. Type the identifier of your computer’s CD-ROM drive,

then type c. Click OK.

setup.exe

Start

➙

. For example,

File

. For example,

Run

D:\setup.exe

Run

➙

D:\setup.exe

Note: If you don’t know which drive letter is for

your CD-ROM player, open Windows Explorer or File Manager and look for the letter next to the CD-ROM icon.

When the opening screen appears, click

840C Series Printer Software.

will be on the install button.)

When the HP License Agreement box appears, read the agreement and click

Do one of the following:

• If the printer is turned on and is connected to the computer with the parallel printer cable, the setup program automatically detects the printer and the port to which it is connected. Then, proceed to step 5.

• If the printer is turned off or if the connection to the computer has not yet been made with the parallel printer cable, the setup program asks you to specify which port to use for the printer. Select an LPT-type port; the default setting of

LPT1

and proceed to step 5.

is appropriate for most computers. Click

(Your printer model number

Install HP DeskJet

Follow the instructions on the screen. If something goes wrong, go to “If you have problems

installing” on page 13.

Note:The HP DeskJet 840C Series printer is

automatically set as the default Windows printer. If you find that it is not the default Windows printer, go to “Setting the HP DeskJet Printer as the Default” on page 26.

Note:If you need the printer software on floppy disks:

• Contact your local HP Customer Care Center, listed on page 55.

• If you have access to a computer with a CD-ROM drive, insert the printer software CD in this computer’s CD-ROM drive and begin the software installation. When the opening screen appears, select Make diskettes of your

printer software.

If you have problems installing

• Make sure your printer is on and all connections are firm.

• Exit your software programs. Then turn off the computer and the printer. Turn on the printer, then turn on the computer.

• Close any virus protection programs that are running on your computer. Either right-click the virus protection program’s icon on the taskbar and select upper-right corner of the virus protection program’s open window.

• Uninstall the printer software using the instructions on page 27 then repeat the installation procedure.

• If you’re still having problems with the installation, call an authorized HP dealer or HP Customer Care representative. For the phone number of the support center nearest you, see

HP Customer Care by Phone

Disable

on page 55.

, or click the “x” in the

Setting up your printer with a USB Cable

Note: The USB cable set up requires Windows 98. If you

are using a parallel cable for communications between your printer and your computer, see page 3.

What is USB?

Universal Serial Bus (USB) makes it easy to connect devices to your computer without having to open your PC. USB uses a standard port and plug combination for connecting devices like printers, modems, scanners, and digital cameras. It also offers the benefit of being able to easily add, remove, and move devices.

USB is an option to customers who want to print from Windows 98 across the USB cable. If your computer’s USB port is enabled and properly set up, you can connect your HP DeskJet printer to it or to a chain of USB devices via a USB cable.

USB Step 1: Unpack your printer

Remove the packing material and the packing tape from the

outside of the printer.

Open the top cover. Remove both pieces of plastic packing material from the inside of the printer.

Close the top cover.

USB Step 2: Plug in the power

Note: Do NOT connect your USB cable between the printer

and the computer. Make sure that the USB cable is NOT plugged into the computer at this point in the setup.

Leave the computer and the printer turned off.

Lift the cable access door on the back of the printer.

Plug the power adapter cord firmly into the connector on the back of the printer.

Plug the appropriate end of the power cord into the power adapter.

Plug the other end of the power cord into an electrical outlet.

USB Step 3: Insert print cartridges

Press the Power button to turn on the printer.

Note:Use only the Power button on the front of the

printer to turn the printer on and off. Using a power strip, surge protector or a call outlet switch to turn the printer on and off may cause premature failure.

The Power light comes on and the Print Cartridge light blinks.

Open the top cover. The cartridge cradle moves to the center of the printer.

Remove the print cartridges from their individual packages.

Carefully remove the protective vinyl tape from the tri-color and black print cartridges.

Note:Be sure not to touch the ink nozzles or the copper

electrical contacts. Also, do NOT remove the copper strip; these are electrical contacts required for proper operation of the print cartridges.

Insert the black print cartridge in the right cradle, and insert the tri-color print cartridge in the left cradle. You must insert both print cartridges for the printer to operate.

Black Print Cartridge

Vinyl Tape

Tri-color Print Cartridge

Vinyl Tape

Ink Nozzles Ink Nozzles

Close the latch. You will hear a click and feel resistance when the latch is

pushed down.

Close the top cover. The Print Cartridge light continues to blink for awhile

and then goes off. (You’ll hear the cartridge cradle return to its home position on the right side of the printer.)

Note:If the Print Cartridge light continues to blink or

if the cradle doesn’t move to the right side of the printer, take out both cartridges and reinsert them.

840C, 842C, and 843C require:

HP No. [15] (equivalent to C6615 Series)

Black Tri-Color HP No. [17] (equivalent to C6625 Series)

USB Step 4: Load paper in your printer

1 Pull out the IN tray and slide the paper-width and

paper-length adjusters out as far as possible to make room for the paper.

Flip up the OUT tray for a better view of the IN tray.

OUT Tray

2 Remove a stack of paper from its packaging. (Make sure all

the paper in the stack is the same size and type.) Tap the stack on a flat surface to even it up.

Paper-width adjuster

IN Tray

Paper-length adjuster

3 Load the paper into the IN tray, printable side down. The IN

tray holds up to 10 mm or 3/8 inch at a time.

4 Push the paper toward the back of the paper tray until it

stops.

5 Slide both paper adjusters to fit snugly against the paper’s

edges. Make sure the paper lies flat in the tray and that the paper fits under the tab of the paper-length adjuster.

6 Slide the IN tray all the way back in.

Flip the OUT tray back down if it’s up.

USB Step 5: Insert printer software CD in the computer

Note:Make sure the computer is operational, meets the

minimum system requirements and that its USB port is enabled and properly configured. See “Problems with your USB installation?” on page 24 for more information.

1 Turn on the computer and wait for Windows 98 to start. 2 Insert the HP printer software CD into your CD-ROM drive.

USB Step 6: Connect USB cable

USB Step 7: Install USB and printer software

1 Lift the cable access door on the back of the printer. 2 Plug one end of the USB cable into the USB port on the

printer.

3 Plug the other end into any USB port on the computer.

Note:You can also refer to steps 8a through 8h on the

USB Cable Setup Quick Start Poster

1 After a few seconds, the Add New Hardware Wizard screen

appears.

Note:If the Add New Hardware Wizard screen does not

appear, your computer may not be USB-enabled. You can still enjoy the full capabilities of your HP DeskJet 840C Series printer by connecting the printer to the computer with a parallel cable. Go to “Connecting your printer with a parallel printer cable” on page 3 for setup instructions.

2 Click Next.

3 Click Next in this screen, too.

4 Select Specify a location and then click the Browse button.

Do NOT click Next.

5 Double-click the CD or disk drive icon, which ever is

appropriate for the type of media you are installing from. Click on the win98usb folder then click OK to close the Browse screen and return to the Wizard.

6 Click Next.

The Add New Hardware Wizard searches for the win98usb driver. If Windows is unable to find a driver, click Back to return to Step 4.

7 When the driver file is located, click Next.

The driver file is installed on your computer.

8 When you are notified that installation of the USB software is

completed, click Finish.

9 Soon the opening screen for installing the HP DeskJet

printer software appears. Click Next.

10When the HP License Agreement box appears, read the

agreement, then click Accept.

If something goes wrong with the USB software installation, go to “Problems with your USB installation?” on page 24.

+ 51 hidden pages